Archive for August, 2013

Stop me if you’ve heard this before but the very first iphoneography course in England, if not the UK, was held right here at Fotofilia, led by the wonderful Nettie Edwards. Well, we’re doing it again, with a few changes. For some time, Nettie and I have been discussing ways of broadening the audience for mobile photography courses and we think we have planned a real corker. Here’s the full blurb…

Introduction to iPhone Photography with Nettie Edwards

Saturday November 9th 2013: 10am to 5pm

Yes! The return of Nettie Edwards’s legendary iFotofilia workshops! We were the first place in the UK to run iPhone photography workshops and since then, millions more people have discovered that the best camera is the one that you have with you. The iPhone in your pocket is a camera and powerful image editing tool combined, but do you know how to get the best out of it? Join internationally renowned iPhone photographer and Fotofilia regular Nettie Edwards for an exhilarating and inspiring day of Creative Smartphone photography.

The workshop will cover:

How to take creative photographs with your Smartphone

How to extend the capabilities of your Smartphone’s camera, with alternative shooting apps and add-on hardware

How to transfer your photos from phone/camera to an iPad

Introduction to some excellent photo processing apps that cost no more than a cup of coffee.

How to upload your photographs to social Media sites

Please note: this is a beginner’s course, but you do need to know the basics such as purchasing and downloading apps. Nettie’s area of expertise is iOS devices (iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad). However, if you shoot with DSLRs or Android phones but have an iPad or iPod Touch, you’ll still enjoy this day. If you want to ask any questions before you book, contact Nettie: net@nettieweb.co.uk

Spaces are limited and Nettie’s workshops and presentations are always a great success, so book early to avoid disappointment!

A bit about Nettie: Nettie Edwards (@Lumilyon) took up photography 13 years ago, following a successful career spanning two decades as a Theatrical Designer. In 2009 she embraced mobile art and photography and has not looked back since. Her mobile career is exploding at a phenomenal rate and she has won a huge number of awards and accolades including: winner, Fine Art category, 4th Julia Margaret Cameron Awards and runner up: 2013 Lumen Prize for Digital Art. She was a Lead Juror for The Mobile Photography Awards 2011 & 2012. Her work has been published and exhibited extensively including Mobile Photo Paris and the LA Mobile Arts Festival. Nettie runs Mobile Arts and iPhoneography workshops and is featured in Mobile Masters – an ebook featuring 50 of the World’s leading Mobile Artists and Photographers. Nettie is the first ever Mobile Photographer to have her work exhibited at the birthplace of photography: the Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock Abbey, England, as one of six photographers featured in the exhibition “Arrangements in Black and Grey, Black and White Photography in the 21st century” You can read more about Nettie on her blog http://lumilyon.wordpress.com/about-2/ To look more closely at her work, go to her Flickr Photostream here –http://www.flickr.com/photos/lumilyon/

Copyright Nettie Edwards

Copyright Nettie Edwards

Copyright Nettie Edwards

Places on this full day course are just £50. Contact us for availability.

I recently gave a talk about the importance of working on photographic projects rather than the endless pursuit of the single stand-alone knockout image and how some of those instantly recognisable iconic images are often themselves part of a much wider body of work.

One photographer that I omitted from my talk was dutch portrait artist (that seems a more apt description than simply “photographer”) Tanneke Peetoom who I have written about here once before and has an incredibly original signature style but who is now involved in a photo project entitled “Dolls“. As with all good projects, it is still recognisably by the same person who produces the breathtakingly beautiful child portraits that I wrote about last time, but now, whilst using the same cool clean light and beautifully nordic-looking young models, Tanneke has styled and posed them so as to transform them into exquisite dolls – simultaneously real and yet unreal.

From “Dolls” by Tanneke Peetoom, 2013

Isabelle. From “Dolls” by Tanneke Peetoom, 2013

From “Dolls” by Tanneke Peetoom, 2013

I have attended quite a few photography degree shows over the years (including my own) as well as exhibitions where the idea of making humans look like dolls is a theme that has been tried by photographers of all levels. But I can honestly say that I’ve never seen this idea done as – well, beautifully – as Tanneke.

Elsa. From “Dolls” by Tanneke Peetoom, 2013

Again, Tanneke’s models include her own children and she has clearly found a great make-up artist in Rosalie Coppelmans who seems to be able to perfectly complement Tanneke’s concept.

Another entry from this year’s Fotofilia CLUB/f2 multimedia competition and as if to demonstrate the high standard of the work submitted, this entry wasn’t a winner but deserves mention not least because of the amount of work and organisation that went into it.

The last film I showed you I described as a “hymn to vinyl”. If so, this one is more of a “hymn to a bus route” – and in particular the Number 11 bus route that encircles Birmingham city and is well known to most brummies as simply “the eleven”. The photographer, Danny Taylor, teamed up with poet Jacqui Rowe for the project (having been put in touch by my friend, the poet Emma Purshouse). With Danny providing the images and Jacqui writing and narrating the poem soundtrack, the result is an atmospheric tribute to an iconic feature of Birmingham life. Danny recorded Jacqui’s poem actually on the bus route which, while making some of the poem harder to hear above the traffic, gives an extra layer of atmosphere to the piece.

I was very impressed with the incredible level of collaboration and ingenuity that went into this short film. Hope you like it too.

A few months ago, I ran a multimedia competition for Fotofilia’s THE CLUB and f2 clubs. Members from both clubs were invited to submit a short multimedia presentation which would be shown – and judged – at a screening evening at Birmingham’s mac (Midlands Arts Centre). Club members judged their favourites and guest judges (ace documentary photographer) Andrew Jackson and curator Karen Newman also awarded a cash prize for their own choice.

I’m going to share a few of the presentations with you, starting with this, one of the prize-winning entries by Denise Wilson. With all images captured using a 50mm f1.8 lens and cropped square, the untitled presentation could be described as “a hymn to vinyl”, using album cover-style images of her own, coupled with a clever choice of soundtrack which incorporates that distinctive “needle on vinyl” crackle.

Firstly, I should warn you – you may catch a glimpse of some naked flesh in the following blog post so if you’re viewing this at work, be careful. On the plus side, it’s not my flesh.

I love the British summer. Hayfever, washed out barbecues, warm beer, inexplicable traffic jams, inflated ice cream prices, bites from unidentified bugs… what’s not to like? It also means that at Fotofilia, we take a risk by running a nude photo-shoot event. Last year, we ran a “Nude In The Landscape” shoot in a beautiful part of rural Warwickshire – and it rained. It rained a lot. Our model Helen Claire put on a brave face (and very little else) to provide us all with great images, despite the torrential rain.

This year, ever the optimist, I thought it might be prudent to stage our nude shoot in a location that couldn’t be spoiled by inclement weather. I came up with the slightly altered theme of “Nude In The Urban Landscape” and managed to find an excellent location – an empty and partly derelict – industrial complex in Digbeth, Birmingham.

My best side. Photograph courtesy of Stephen Bennett.

As usual, the event was planned a couple of months in advance. How was I to know the event would coincide with one of the hottest day of the year? This time, our model, Cally, was the only one suitably (un)dressed. The rest of us sweltered in the greenhouse-like conditions but were at least rewarded with some great photo opportunities, even if we did lose half of our bodyweight in sweat.

Copyright David Rann 2013

Copyright David Rann 2013

All in all, great fun, an excellent location and a truly stunning model. Thanks to Cally and our intrepid group of photographers. I’m planning the next one now – anyone know of an accurate long range weather forecast?